OAKLAND —Kyrie Irving has a broken knee cap, Kevin Love is recovering from shoulder surgery and Anderson Varejao has been out since Christmas. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been decimated by injuries to three of their best players.

But they’ve still made it this far. They still have a chance to steal home-court advantage in The Finals in Game 2 on Sunday (8 p.m. ET, ABC). And they still have LeBron James, who’s been a pretty good one-star show this season.

James has played only 545 (less than 18 percent) of his total minutes (regular season and playoffs) with neither Irving nor Love on the floor. But the Cavs have outscored their opponents by 149 points in those 545 minutes, playing great on both ends of the floor.

Most of those minutes have been played with just one big alongside James. But in the one-star scenario, the Cavs have been good playing either big or small. With two bigs, they’ve been fantastic defensively. With James at the four, they’ve been much stronger offensively.

The Cavs’ two most-used, no-Irving-or-Love lineups have been both great. The small lineup — with Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, James and Tristan Thompson — is a plus-53 in 87 minutes. The big lineup (likely to start Game 2) — with Timofey Mozgov in Smith’s place — is a plus-59 in 82 minutes.

Both of those lineups have allowed less than 90 points per 100 possessions. But the Cavs’ defense has been at its best in those no-Irving-or-Love minutes with Mozgov on the floor.

Of course, the Cavs were a minus-13 in less than 10 minutes with Irving off the floor in Game 1 on Thursday. The Warriors have been the league’s best team all season. And Cleveland will need to figure out how to bend the Golden State defense a little, so that James can get more support from his supporting cast.

So, how the Warriors defend him and how the Cavs deal with that defense becomes all the more important.

In Game 1, Golden State went one-on-one with James (for the most part), taking away his passing lanes and forcing him into tough shots. The result was a not-so-efficient 44 points from the Cavs’ star and not enough help from the guys around him.

But the Cavs were inches away from winning the game. And James made it clear on Friday that his 44 points were more about his ability than the Warriors’ defense.

“First of all, you can’t let me have 40,” James said when asked about the opponent’s game plan. “I go get 40. It’s not like they’re just getting out of the way. So those guys aren’t saying ‘we’re okay with letting him have 40.’ You don’t let me have 40. I’m making those shots.”

He also said that the Warriors’ defense wasn’t as simple as it may have looked.

“They’re not just giving me one steady dosage of ‘we’re going to just let him play,'” James said. “That’s what they want to get out to you guys, but that’s not what’s happening. Yeah, I see it all throughout the course of the game. They’ve given me different matchups, just trying to keep me off balance.

“But I’ve seen it all, and I’ve got to do a better job as well getting my other guys involved. I’m okay with getting big numbers and things of that nature, but I feel much better when I’m able to get my guys in rhythm and get them guys some more looks.”

Cavs coach David Blatt wants to see his team look for more opportunities to score before the Golden State defense is set up. Just seven of the Cavs’ 94 shots came in the first seconds of the shot clock on Thursday, according to SportVU. And it’s also on James’ teammates to get the defense to move when he has the ball.

“We can do a little bit of a better job moving without the basketball, attacking more in transition,” Blatt said Friday. “I didn’t think there was any particular advantage to playing him one way or the next. But because the result was what it was, you could interpret it that way.”

Most observers will count the Cavs out of this series after losing Game 1 and losing Irving in the process. They may ultimately be right. But there’s hope in just how well James has carried his team without its other two stars to this point.

75 Comments

The problem I have with the Cav’s playing so well without Love. Is that what do they do this summer. Someone most likely Phil Jax or Ainge will offer Thompson some good coin. So you find the Cav’s management backed into a corner where they could give up Thompson who is a defensive powerhouse who was there 4th pick a few years ago. Let Love go who you traded Two 1st round 1st picks for. Or have to spend big on both and go into luxury tax. It would have been better keeping Wigins on a lower rookie contract as another shooter and not trading for love.

Cavs played the best they can play and still lost with labrick getting 44, gs was 6/25 in the first quarter don’t count on that being the case in game two them shots gonna fall and it will get ugly early

this is the way it’s going to go, Cavs win tonight, go back to Cleveland and win those two, then back to Oakland and maybe lose (so what) then back to Cleveland to finish off the little warriors hehehe it’s going to happen folks

Everyone get a grip!!! DUDS sit back and watch because you are going done today!! Cavs will only be better and game 1had the MVP praying that tge last shot was missed due to the great stop by Kyrie!! Funny how noone is focused on the MVP’s missteps. Oh, wait they rather focus there energy on exposing and getting there child on tv!!

Let’s face it, the Warriors were the best team in the League when every team was at full strength and before any injuries.. The Warriors have stayed the best team throughout and in the play-offs. They will deserve the title when they get it.

All the chit chat, the stats the blah, blah, blah from people who do not watch nor have watched the Cavs play basketball this season after they got their rhythm. You don’t know what your talking about. Number one this is just the first game, it’s very normal for them to lose the first game. Number two the Warriors did not blow out the Cavs in game one, they only won the last 5 min. of overtime and only because Cavs went cold, and number three, the Cavs have played many, many games without Kyrie and blew out the other team so lets not blow that all out of proportion. Number four you just sit back and watch your little “underdog” blowout GSW because it’s coming. Take Note!!! Go Cavs !!!

Everyone keeps saying if cavs loose then lebron will be 2-4 n the finals…the correct term is 2-6..if u only make 2 freethrows out of 6 u don’t say 2-4 cuz u made 2 and missed 4. Like MJ is 6-0 n finals Kobe is 5-2 n finals and here shortly Lebron will be 2-6(Most likely). Maybe then everyone will stop comparing James to Kobe and Jordan who are miles above the supposed King.

That makes no sense Josh. By your saying Lebron is 2 of 6 in the finals wouldn’t that make Kobe 5 of 7 and not 5-2??? If you are stating that Kobe is 5-2 in the finals then the correct way to similarly compare Lebron’s finals record it would be 2-4… I hope that helps! Go Blazers!

argument NBA fans should despise: the If LeBron Played In West Whining…

okay, let’s imagine that for a second: LeBron is in the West, no doubt playing for one of the historically top squads, where management is better, rosters are stronger… he wins every year then because he has a better team around him and no competition in the Finals (because he was the competition in the Finals)…

secondly, LeBron had to twice beat the Boston Celtics that won — including their 2012 squad that had a big 4 — and two pretty good Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls teams and the best Hawks team ever (swept them) … so who are we getting all bent out of shape about here? his round 1 matchups? as if those are sooo much tougher out West… puhlease.

it’s also incredibly disrespectful to his Finals competition to say he should have had more. and I’m talking greatest shooting bigman Dirk Nowitzki + Jason Kidd and other notable vets, Tony Parker & Manu Ginobili & Tim greatest 4 ever Duncan (THREE TIMES) and now the greatest shooter ever + another one of the greatest shooters + the best Warriors roster ever… I mean, you think it’s easy to beat the Spurs? tell that to to the Thunder, Suns, Pistons… Larry Bird went 1-2 vs. Magic, which is comparable to Bron going to 1-2 against Duncan…

How many play offs game did Jordan loose? Lebron made it to the final 4 yrs After got drafted. Mj got eliminated in a lot of play offs game..could not make to the final till he had hall of famer coach and teammates..how many players were on 2007 cavs made it to the final are in the hall of fame today? None maybe one.big Z. Coach? Brown…enough said.count everything.

2000-2001 Lakers Finals. Look at that squad. Just shut up and get it done. Best player in the world…i’m pretty sure the Cavs as a team can put up these numbers collectively. Can’t help you with that killer instinct though….

unless lebron can drop 50 every game. this series is over. as much as I am a cavaliers fan despite being from bay area, it hurts very badly. It hurts more because lebron is getting these hurt players always. last year it was washed up miami team with injured wade who could not deliver 3rd time. the lack of deep bench also hurts. It is hard to win with no contribution from the bench despite lebrons best effort. they should have won game 1 hands down. And they blew it.

cavs can ramp up defense but unless they play like a team possessed it is not possible to beat this lock and loaded, healthy GS team. the stars have come together for this team after such a long gap.

so the war is as good as over before it started. but I would be happy to be proven wrong. Miracle happen in sports but will it happen here remains to be seen!

Am I the only one who is contesting that final shot by LJ? He traveled worse than Vince carter in last yrs playoff game v spurs. Why is nobody talking about that? Horrible jump travel is LJ allowed to travel indiscriminate

Blatt is known for orchestrating upsets. Just check his resume. lebron can’t do it on his own so trust is paramount. sports are very unpredictable when special people are joined together and focused on a common goal. Anyone remember the 1980 Olympic hockey team? “Miracle on ice” ? Well the entire world counted our boys out for against a superior russian squad but we prevailed and took the gold metal. If you’re any kind of sports fan you will appreciate that story. Herb Brooks was the coach that pulled a team at odds together and made them believe. I hope Blatt can do the same.

Cavs have been ok this season without Irving & Love and with only James anchoring them but this is the NBA finals and their up against the BEST TEAM with the BEST DEFENSE in the league. Defense win championships! I don’t think the Cavs has that defense to stop the Warriors. LeBron needs all the help he can get to produce an upset but without Love & Irving, Lebron is facing a 2-4 record in the NBA finals.

Irving’s injury is horrible for the Cavs. LB’s play in the last 8 seconds of regulation and OT is not going to get it down. I found myself pulling for the Cavs because they are so over matched. If they can steal one on Sunday it would be the biggest game of LB’s career.

Warriors really can’t hold there heads up and feel good if they win the championship when 2 of the main players for the other team is out and 3 if you count Anderson Varejao… Golden State didn’t play their best game I think the Cavs defensive helped with that and most of the Cavs player were really a none factor there game was totally off and look how close the Cavs came to winning it, if James would had a little bit more help in game one the Cavs would had won, look at how many min’s James played plus overtime and K. Thompson game is always hit and miss…

Part of being a great team is depth meaning that your starters can rest and stay healthy for the post season. Unfortunately, the Cavs are not a great team without their starters so they had to ride them all season long which resulted to injuries later in the season. I’m praying LeBron don’t exert himself too much trying to do everything in this series and get injured as well. Bottom line is, health is pretty much part of a championship run not just talent alone.

lol hey warriors your title isnt a real title because a part of the game happened at an inconvenient time for the opposing team but if curry is out with a broken neck from the fall in the previous series yay go cavs win the title. playing the what if game eh? what if ray allens 3 doesnt go in 2 years ago? d’aw… injury and luck part of the game. no excuses.

The #1 thing for Lebron is to protect and take care of himself from further casualty for Cavs. Current casualty: Varejão -> Love -> Irving. Two situations could cause a worse thing happen: 1. anxiety; 2. going beyond the limit

The paint is the Cavs’ friend so if they want to win it all, they must and can dominate it at both ends of the floor. This is one Finals where I like both teams and coaches so the outcome will be interesting. GS has the advantage of a healthy and deep squad so for LeBron to add more to his great and storied career, he will have to bring the Chip to Cleveland. As a fan of the game, I would love to “witness” the Cavs beat the odds and take it all. Good luck to both tomorrow night.

Golden State did’t play their best game either. Warriors at their best is a hard team to beat for anything less known a team without 3 of their main players. Lebron does keep the competition level up and he alone will still make it a great series but let’s face it – Golden State in 5.

That’s a very debatable statement, cleveland too can play much better, if you ask me, golden state is kinda predictable and plays like OKC from 2012 offensively, defense is a little overrated. All you have to do is stay at home with them and contest, cintest, contest, and you’re good against them. Cleveland is a much better all around team than the 3 golden state has faced. Give them some credit

To all LB Fans, 99% of Media, and 99% of so-called NBA experts. A player you all call -Best player on the planet – Consider to be greatest player ever – Compared to Great Michael Jordan – i don’t care which NBA era (I’m not just talking about LB) DON’T 1) Shoot fade away 3pt last second shot with more than 8sec left on the shot clock in the NBA Finals Game – 2) Not only Don’t take over the game and scores 0 pts til last secs of overtime BUT Don’t Show Up at all in the Overtime of NBA FINALS GAME. I dislike Kobe more than LB but i can honestly say Kobe won’t even do that. So please lets NOT call LB GOAT and compare this dude to GREAT Michael Jordan. If anything compare LB to Kobe who i think is 3 levels below Michael.

Getting your new not that talented injured team (I’d choose Pippen/Rodman over Irving/Love any day, and Chicago also had a much better supporting cast) to the finals is an accomplishment that I’m sure Jordan could never have done. If Lebron wins the title or not is not important for the GOAT discussion, he already proved that he’s better than Jordan. I’m rooting for the Warriors, but what Lebron has done this postseason is nothing less than spectacular.

I feel it was energy and effort that shorted the cavs in the long run along with their bench not producing like the Warriors. Also LeBron is great we all know that, but the waiting till there is 4 on the shot clock holding the ball just to take a jump shot is contagious for LeBron and it doesn’t put enough pressure on the Warriors defense, as opposed to when he was aggressive getting Greene in foul trouble. LeBron needs to continue to drive be physical force the double team. Even if he takes the shot if he forces someone to rotate to help that leaves Tristan and some times mozgov in the pain for second chance points. He can kick out also to shooters like Jr smith who should be on LeBrons left side, and people need to move a lot more without ball, cause it seems when LeBron has the ball people just stand there. Only players that really hustle is mozgov, Tristan, and delly…

James has a huge amount at stake personally – he really can’t afford to go 2-3 in Final Series. How many other “greats” have lost three final series? In five years? The Cavs also have a lot at stake – more than any other team – they bet the farm on James, and the disappointment of Cleveland not winning this year will be nearly insurmountable, given the expectations created by Cavs, media, league, etc. What about next year? Maybe no Kyrie or Kevin or who else?? Bottom-line, LeBron is motivated to “up” his game to any extent needed to win. Cavs will pull out the stops and do anything they can to win. Cavs do have Dellavedova, and he will “play aggressively – Rugby rules” as he has in the past, and who knows, a couple of Warrior all stars may be out a game or two or the series or more, just like the Hawks. The Warriors are fighting against the Cavs – a desperate team that has shown they are motivated to win at any cost by any means, in any way they can. The league has demonstrated they will back LeBron and the Cavs to make the preseason PR story come true. Get ready for some hard hitting, physical (did someone say dirty) basketball, and the Warriors need to keep the surgeons on call. Golden State may be just that much better a team and will be able to withstand this kind of challenge. I suggest Warriors pull out all the stops and make this a short series.

How many greats been there 5 in a row rings don’t make u great Jordan’s hard play made him great just as lebrons hard play makes him great. Jordan’s greatest of his time and lebrons greatest of his time.

The best of Steph Curry and the Warriors have been shown in game 1 of the finals. We are yet to see the best of Lebron James
and the sidekicks JR Smith, Matty Devalledova, Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, Tim Mozgov, James Jones, Shawn Marion, Harris, Mike Miller and probably Andy Varejao. Lebron James has not been beaten twice in a row. That is why game 2 belongs to the Cavs. Lebron James has a mission and that is to win the Championship for Cleveland. Cavs in 5 or 6.

There is no way that was the best of the Warriors. Klay was 5-14 shooting and curry was held in check a lot better than he usually is in game one. With Delladova being forced to start, whoever he is guarding is likely to go off in the coming games

Game #1 wasn’t close to the Warriors’ best. It was about a B- day. At their best, they’re shooting about 55% and holding the other team under 40%. Their shots were inconsistent Game #1, and they were getting used to the Cavs’ great defensive hands. The Warriors will get better. Anyway who has watched them, knows that.

Why am I not surprised that this is the lead article on http://www.nba.com? Could it be that the NBA is terrified that its ratings will drop for the finals after an epic Game 1? Instead of trying to fool us all into believing that this will still be a decent series, the NBA should take serious steps to prevent the injuries that have absolutely ruined this season’s playoffs. Start by eliminating back-to-backs and seriously consider a reduction in the total number of games. Why do we need more than 60? We all knew who the best teams in the East and the West were in March. The rest of the regular season was pointless. Injuries have absolutely killed the NBA product this postseason. If you want truly want to improve ratings, address the injury problem NOW. If you don’t think what I’m saying is true, look at this year’s list of key players who were seriously limited by injury during this year’s playoffs: Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose, John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, Demarre Carol, Jrue Holiday, Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul, Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Patrick Beverly, Donatas Motiejunas, Dwight Howard, Wesley Matthews, Tony Parker. While many of these players still played, they were significantly limited in at least a few critical games. Others didn’t play at all. It’s not fun watching teams that are mere shells of their true selves.

By having a long season, this is a strategic advantage to teams that have great benches such as the Warriors and the Spurs. By cutting the season short it gives teams more incentive to just have a Lebron or Kevin Durant on their team

And this is more a test of LeBron VS’ Steve Kerr, than LeBron verses the individual players. As talented as LeBron is, he will need to be on the court more, and not be able to think as clearly in the 4th quarter as than he does typically.

Yes LeBron is the BEST overall player we’ve seen in NBA history.

Screw the MJ, Magic, Kobe, Bird, compares. Align their career timings and you can see LeBron is the best. The BEST don’t always WIN, and Winners are not always the best. Being a Winner is more a state of mind than the end results… LeBron has Both, Winner (State of mind) and the Best.

That all said, and everyone not happy with the above… WARRIORS, WARRIORS, WARRIORS, will “PLAY” with the Cavs…bring it back to -ROAR-acle in closing game 6 or sooner.

lebron is a missed ray allen 3 away from being 1-5 in finals after this year. definitely not the best. 2-4 fortunately. if lebron plays in the western conf he def does not make it to 5 straight finals 6 overall. maybe to 3 and wins maybe 1. he only gets to the finals every year because the east is bad.

Pretty good won’t get it done against the Warriors. Not withe LeClumsy at the healm.

You heard the announcer say late in the 4th quarter, “LeBron dribbled it off his own foot” and as it has so many times, the dribbling the ball of his own foot by LeClumsy cost them the game, and in this case cost them Irving.

The Cavs have been good without Love and Kyrie, but they haven’t been win 4 out of 6 games vs. the Warriors good. No team can beat the Warriors 4 out of 6 games missing 2 of their 3 best players. Sorry to say, but SH hits the nail on the head here, this series is just over: http://straighthoops.com/any_chance.html

As much as Kyrie Irving helped out offensively, i think because of his injury he slowed the team down on defense (except for the block he had on Curry late in the 4th quarter). I think the rotations were off and a step slow when he was on the court because he couldn’t stay in front of his man. Even when Kyrie is healthy he is not known for his defense, so by him being injured it almost hurt the Cavs in a way. Irving was basically a liability on defense. I think the Cavs are better with LeBron at the PG. Also, we’ll see what Dellavedova can do to annoy Curry on defense..

If the Cavs can push for a game 7, then anything is possible… its not over until its over

Man, did you even see Game 1? Kyrie played one of his best all-around games ever, despite the injuries. He was the only guy, who could stay in front of Curry. Shump, Smith got stuck on screens and god only knows what Delly was doing on the floor, he was totally lost. Kyrie, on the other hand, was great. Maybe he was a step slow at times, but he recovered well and had a few blocks on Curry + few steals. And on the offensive end, he did his job – scored points, kept teammates in game and also rebounded the ball. Losing Kyrie is a big blow. Dellavedova is just too slow to stay in front of Curry, even injured Kyrie is faster than Delly.

As a Warriors fan, I want them to win. But I prefer they win against Cleveland’s best. Even with Irving, the Warriors looked like they would be able to grind it out. Now, if the Cav’s win, it will take a historic breakdown and/or historic James performance and/or Warrior injuries. Most likely, Warriors win in 4 or 5, and we hope these two teams can meet next year with their full squads.